A Modern Politician

This business attracts sleazy people at all levels, federal, state and local. Here's a little tale of a politician in Massachusetts.

His name is John Brennan. He served in the State Senate for sixteen years and was considered a leader there. After he left the Senate, he sat on the board of the library in his home town of Malden for almost nineteen years. Things went well for Mr. Brennan. He started a company. Can you guess what business his company operates in? You win the prize if you said 'lobbying'.

Now he's getting old and is considering his retirement options. He did serve in the Senate for a lot of years and is entitled to a pension for this service. Now the Senate does not pay much, so Mr. Brennan will get a little over $19,000 a year for this service. However, the State will actually pay him an annual pension of $41,000 as he has served the state for almost thirty-five years. Huh?

Wasn't he in the Senate for sixteen years? Yes, he was but in 1998 the Senate authorized time spent as a library trustee to be counted toward one's pension if the town accepted the terms of the Senate legislation. Well, it seems that the mayor of Malden at one time shared a law partnership with Brennan. In a spirit of friendship and open government the mayor asked the city council to accept the provisions of the Senate act; of, course, he did not actually say what the act was, he just gave the number. The council accepted the mayor's request.

The frosting on the cake? Mr. Brennan had a hard time attending monthly meetings of the library board. In his last four years of service he missed 90% of the meetings.